Warhammer 40k: New Ally Matrix Fixes Taudar Shenanigans

The 7th edition of Warhammer 40k drops on May 24th, and the wargaming community has been a-tizzy with all the tidbits that have been leaked. There is a new psychic phase (much like Warhammer Fantasy's magic phase), a new Daemonology power, and a bunch of other adjustments.

But the best part? They've released a new ally matrix! It looks like this:

I'm thrilled by the new update (if not the new price tag) - it streamlines the alliance process and makes things so much easier.

All Imperium, All The Time

First of all, individual armies under the Imperium no longer have their own entries on the chart. This one change makes a world of difference!

It reduces the giant grid from 6th edition to a much more manageable 9x9, makes the chart easier to read, and gives enough space on the page to include the army names next to each icon - instead of putting them in a key at the bottom - so that the chart can be scanned by newer players without overwhelming them.

You also don't have to sort through a series of different Imperial-related icons to figure out if Necrons/Tau are allying with Dark Angels, Blood Angels, Grey Knights or Space Wolves as Allies of Convenience - it's all the same. Speaking of which...

Imperial Racism Returns

The Imperium returns to its roots and genuinely hates most of the Xenos again. They are Allies of Convenience with the Eldar and Desperate Allies with Dark Eldar and Tau, but the vast majority are only allies 'Come The Apocalypse'.

While Come The Apocalypse is now actually a playable alliance, it comes with some hefty penalties that help maintain a bit of balance.

Allying With Yourself

You can now have an allied contingent with your own army, which means Battleforged armies have a bit more flexibility without branching out of their own codex. Players can potentially have three HQs (or more, depending on which codex they're playing) without breaking the Force Organization chart and going into Unbound army territory.

Fewer Xenos Shenanigans

And finally, we have fewer issues of alien-on-alien action causing issues on the competitive scene. This BoLS article explains why the Tau + Eldar combination was so powerful in 6th edition better than I ever could, but here is the basic gist:

They are both new codices, which tend to be a bit stronger than previous editions;

They were Battle Brothers in 6th, which let their abilities work very well with each other;

I love how they remove Tau/Eldar, which works fine in fluff for the sake of balance, then they come out and say that they dont want balance. and then with the combining of all imperial armies is just stupid. blood wolves would have a much different ally chart then grey knights. and dark angels would be much different than imperial guard. but no, they are all the same for some reason.

The interesting thing is that now All imperial armies are battle brothers. usually the reason to take allies with imperial guard [like say, from the inquisition] would be to give the army access to divination powers. however, now, it looks like they'll be able to take divination without any help from anyone else, meaning that if you want to bring allies, there's no reason in the meta that locks you to a single type of imperial ally.

Yep yep! There have been a lot of changes in the 6th/7th era. I'll know all of them once I get the book this weekend (just preordered at my FLGS, which hurt my wallet).

The general gist of the ally matrix is that you can take a Main Detachment of whatever army you're playing, and then an Allied Detachment of another army. Based on their relationship with you - Battle Brother, Allies of Convenience, etc. - you get certain additional rules.

Battle Brothers are treated as the same army, pretty much, for leadership and the like. Your Ultramarines can have a Grey Knight detachment attached. :)